News Release

The following press release was
jointly issued today by Brookhaven National Laboratory; CERN, the
European Organization for Nuclear Research; and Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory.

CERN Receives First U.S.-built Component for Large Hadron
Collider

In a milestone for global science collaboration,
CERN took
delivery today of the first U.S.-built contribution to what will
be the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator. The
superconducting magnet, built at the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Brookhaven National Laboratory, will become a key component of
the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is the first of several
advanced accelerator elements the U.S. will provide for the LHC
under the terms of a 1998 agreement between CERN, the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Science Foundation
(NSF).

Brookhaven-built magnet arrives at CERN. (Image courtesy of
CERN.)

"The arrival of this magnet from Brookhaven marks a new era
in international collaboration in particle physics," said CERN
Director General Luciano Maiani. "The LHC is the first truly
global collaboration in particle physics, and this magnet joins
a steadily growing stream of LHC components arriving from around
the world – a tangible demonstration of people of all kinds
working together towards a common goal."

To reach the highest energy ever produced by an accelerator,
the LHC will use more than 6,000 superconducting magnets, most
of which are being built by CERN's industrial partners in
Europe. As part of the total $531-million US contribution to the
LHC, Brookhaven agreed to develop and manufacture the LHC's
interaction-region dipole magnets, which will guide the LHC's
two counter-rotating beams of protons into collision.

"I congratulate the Brookhaven team on this milestone for
international collaboration in scientific research," said Dr.
Raymond L. Orbach, Director of the Department of Energy's Office
of Science, which funds the U.S. LHC magnet contributions. "It
is tangible evidence of the successful fulfillment of the
commitment we have made to provide advanced U.S. magnet
technology and accelerator expertise for the next step in
worldwide particle physics research at the energy frontier. And
it is exciting to be a party to the future accomplishments of
the LHC."

The 25-ton Brookhaven magnet, the first of 20 that the
laboratory will ultimately provide, took nine months to
construct, with more than 100 scientists, engineers and
technicians contributing to its successful completion.
Brookhaven's Superconducting Magnet Division is now building the
remaining 19 magnets, which will be shipped to CERN later this
year.

"Our colleagues at Brookhaven have done a splendid job,
producing the first U.S.-built superconducting magnet for the
LHC project in time and according to specification," said LHC
project leader Lyn Evans. "This will soon be followed by further
deliveries from Brookhaven as well as from Fermilab and Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, all actively participating in the
LHC design and construction. This constitutes a major step
forward in international collaboration in the construction and
exploitation of large facilities for particle physics research."

Fermilab physicist Jim Strait, Project Manager for the U.S.
LHC accelerator effort, said the collaborative nature of the
project is integral to its success. "The delivery of the first
U.S. superconducting magnet to CERN for the LHC is a significant
accomplishment by Brookhaven, and a major milestone in
international collaboration on high-energy accelerators," said
Strait. "The U.S. collaboration with CERN is proving very
productive for both sides, and I hope it will continue in the
future for the benefit of world-wide particle physics."

Scheduled to start in April 2007, the LHC will probe deeper
into matter than ever before to explore a new energy region and
search for new phenomena. The 27-kilometre rings of the LHC will
circulate two counter-rotating beams of protons at nearly the
speed of light (300,000 kilometers or 186,000 miles per second)
while maintaining the protons precisely at the center of the
beam pipe containing them.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is a national laboratory
operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the US Department
of Energy’s Office of Science.

The
U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts
research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as
well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also builds and operates
major facilities available to university, industrial, and government
scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science
Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook
University and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology
organization.